Blood Games

    ‘He lied about it. He just didn’t want to play The Reaper. He said, “I can’t do that stuff to Abilene or to anyone else. Not even pretending.” It’s like he knew what might happen.’

    ‘He wouldn’t have done that stuff to her,’ Vivian said.

    ‘Maybe he was afraid he might. I don’t know.’

    ‘I know one thing,’ Abilene said. ‘He’s smarter than the rest of us; he stayed out of it.’

    ‘ “A nifty little film. Though I realize you were limited as far as special effects, you managed to carry off the story quite effectively. The cast was great. Very convincing portrayals all around. My regards to everyone involved. I wish you success with your film, and I should think you’ll have a great future in the cinema. Sincerely, Dick.” How do you like them apples?’ Finley asked, grinning up from the letter.

    Abilene sneered. ‘Convincing portrayals, huh?’

    ‘They should’ve been,’ Cora said. ‘Nobody in the whole damn film was acting. You and Harris were really making out, Baxter tried to rape you, and we zombies kicked his ass in earnest.’

    ‘Turned into cinema verite,’ Finley said. ‘Hope the Institute appreciates it as much as the author.’

    ‘I’m a connoisseur of such things,’ Helen said, ‘and I think it was fabulous. Especially that one-armed zombie.’

    ‘You did a great job pulling Baxter off me,’ Abilene admitted.

    Helen beamed at her. ‘Pretty good for a fatty, huh? And a dead one, to boot.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

    Nobody screamed. Nobody fled. Nobody spoke or wept.

    They all stood there, staring at the body.

    Abilene supposed it came as no surprise to any of them that Helen had been murdered. It was what they had all suspected, dreaded, tried to deny all morning during their search for her. They’d clung to feeble hopes, but they’d known they would probably never find her alive.

    Now it was over. There was no more room for hope or denial.

    Someone had brought Helen into the shower room and butchered her.

    It occurred to Abilene that she ought to be afraid. The killer might be nearby, might come for the rest of them. But she felt no fear. She felt only tired and dazed and numb.

    She sank to the floor of the shower room. Slumping back against a wall, she raised her knees and hugged them tight. She was vaguely aware of the white cat scooting by, fleeing as Cora and Finley walked slowly toward Helen’s body.

    Cora crouched. Her hand went to Helen’s neck. Searching for a pulse beat, though there could be no doubt that Helen was dead. A few moments later, she straightened up.

    Finley, bending over, reached for the knife.

    ‘No,’ Cora whispered. ‘Don’t touch it. We shouldn’t… disturb anything.’

    They both stepped backward away from the body. They turned around.

    ‘We’d better get out of here,’ Cora said. ‘Whoever…’ She halted in mid-stride. The tire iron dropped from her hand and clamored on the floor. She stood motionless as if frozen stiff. Then, hunching over slightly, she squeezed her arms against her chest, buried her chin against her crossed wrists and shuddered.

    Finley put an arm around her.

    Turning her head, Abilene saw Vivian standing rigid, fists pressed tight against her thighs.

    Finley’s flashlight, in the hand she wasn’t using to hold Cora, shone its beam near Vivian’s feet. Abilene’s flashlight, on the floor beside her, made a bright path across the floor to Helen.

    Helen seemed to be watching her.

    Just look at me, Abby. Look what happened to me.

    Wanting her to do something about it. Make it all right. Make it go away.

    Too late for any of that. Way too late.

    Abilene felt a hand stroking her hair. Raising her head, she saw Vivian beside her. She picked up the flashlight. As she stood, Cora came unfrozen and bent down like a palsied old woman to retrieve the tire iron she’d dropped. Finley kept an arm around her and, together, they staggered out of the shower room.

    Vivian took Abilene’s hand, squeezed it.

    They got as far as the threshold. Abilene stopped and looked back. She couldn’t see Helen. Only darkness.

    ‘We can’t leave her alone in here.’

    ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Vivian murmured.

    ‘She’s… scared of shower rooms.’

    Finley came back. Her light made Abilene squint and look away. ‘Helen isn’t scared of them any more. Nothing can scare her now. Okay? We need to get out of here.’

    In silence, they returned to the car. It seemed like the only place to go. It was a rental car, but it was theirs. It was loaded with their things. It gleamed in the sunlight. It felt to Abilene like a sanctuary. They were safe here. Nothing could get them.

    Cora sat on the rear bumper and lowered her head. Abilene sat beside her and watched Vivian lie down on the sloping pavement and fold her hands under her head and stare at the sky.

    Finley stayed on her feet. She paced around, taking deep breaths. Then she stopped and reached into a pocket of her shorts and pulled out the package of hot dogs. She raised it in front of her face. ‘Anybody want one?’ she asked.

    Nobody answered.

    ‘Helen won’t be…’